Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Internationalisation of R&D and Global Nature of Innovation: Emerging Trends in IndiaARI Working Paper Series, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore #WPS 123Abstract:The corporate model of R&D pursued within home country locations of the corporate firm is fast eroding. Important magazines such as The Economist (3 March 2007, p69) has begun to talk about, 'The rise and fall of corporate R&D'. The internet and telecommunication revolutions have dismantled geographical barriers creating a new innovation potential at different levels of value chain which are now dispersed at different locations. The Asian region has come to occupy a significant space in these trends. India and China are becoming major locations for off-shore R&D and innovation affiliations. The last decade witnessed two trends in the pattern of global science and technology systems in the Indian context. The first concerns the internationalisation of R&D and the second the increasingly global nature of innovation.This paper explores three main issues in the Indian context. Firstly, it explores the significant changes in the macro economic and science and technology policies which have propelled changes during the last decade and a half. Secondly, through various indicators the paper maps the growth of internationalization of R&D and global nature of innovation. Thirdly, the paper explores the context of innovation to see whether these trends signify a 'new international division of labor' between North and South or whether there is a significant transformation underway for global nature of innovation.

Abstract: Institutions of higher education engaged in teaching and research have come to occupy an important place in the knowledge production and knowledge transfer. These institutions are now seen as frontiers of innovation and in capitalizing knowledge assets contributing to economic progress, and aiding national economies in international competitiveness. In this paper two Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) are taken up for case studies.

IITs in India have evolved as country's leading engineering institutions over the last six decades. The structure of teaching courses and research in IITs, right from the beginning, has drawn inspiration from the MIT model. Over the last six decades, Indian IITs have acquired international recognition and a 'brand name' for excellence in teaching and producing quality engineering and science graduates. Through 'human capital' and research contribution, IITs have come to occupy a significant position in the Indian national innovation system, particularly during the last decade. The two institutions explored in this study, namely IIT Madras and IIT Bombay, are clear examples of the IIT system as whole.

The major objective in this paper is to explore knowledge production and knowledge transfer in these two institutions. Our focus is laid on the ways in which institutional structures have progressed over the last decade or so to foster and promote university-industry linkages and enterprise creation. Secondly, our concern has been to explore the extent to which the Indian IITs have embraced entrepreneurial university 'culture' or still uphold the values of 'Humboldtian Model' of teaching and research excellence. Thirdly, to explore how the two institutes differ in the processes of knowledge transfer and enterprise creation.

Abstract: Extrinsic motivations like intellectual property protections and fiscal incentives continue to occupy the centre stage in debates on innovation policies. Joseph Schumpeter had, however, argued that the motive to accumulate private property can only explain part of innovative activities. In his view, "the joy of creating, of getting things done" associated with the behavioural traits that "seek out difficulties…and takes delight in ventures" stand out as the most independent factor of behaviour in explaining the process of economic development, especially in early capitalist societies. Taking the case of 'grassroot' innovators in India, we re-examine the motivations behind innovative behaviour. We draw upon the literature on effectance motivation theory to construct operational indicators of extrinsic and intrinsic motivations. Interestingly, we find that pure extrinsic forms of motivation drive only a fraction of individual innovative behaviour. Also, importance of intrinsic motivation in guiding innovative behaviour is found to high when uncertainty is high. We accordingly draw a few policy implications.

Abstract: The theoretical literature identifies three important entrepreneurial dimensions, namely discovering new opportunities, responsiveness to uncertainty, and coordination of a firm. In the empirical literature, past experience has been identified as having an important influence on organizational behavior. This literature, however, focuses predominantly on the impact of experience on new opportunities using a resource-based view and human capital perspective. In contrast, we draw upon the cognitive science literature to argue that past experience shapes an entrepreneur's cognitive frame, and, hence, influences entrepreneurship in a more holistic manner. We provide econometric evidence of the impact of past experience on all three entrepreneurial dimensions from the small scale Indian pharmaceutical enterprises.

Abstract: The main objective of this paper is to analyse some aspects of Japanese policy in the post World War-II period and understand how the various informal institutions (shared mental models) have influenced key dimensions of technology strategy with regard to the nature and trajectory of activities it sought to promote. Previous studies have mainly focused on industrial policy on the basis of the White Papers published by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI). Our study, in contrast, focuses exclusively on technology policies by examining the White Papers on Science and Technology (Kagakugijutsu Hakusho) published by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). We then endeavour to understand the significance of our findings for policy making in India. However, the limited scope of this undertaking makes our results indicative in nature.

Abstract: Recently, it has been suggested that the process of economic development should ideally be viewed as a socioeconomic transformation. Such a view requires a comprehensive understanding of how agents learn and change their behaviour. However, these aspects have only been inadequately addressed in development theory. This paper argues that social-cognitive vicarious learning theories can become a useful methodological tool by incorporating a triadic interaction between personal factors (beliefs, values), behaviour and environment. Our analysis is based on a survey of the Indian trans-Himalayan regions. The development trajectory of these regions suggests that a proper understanding of the vicarious learning mechanism provides crucial insight into the speed of socioeconomic transformations. It also helps to identify appropriate change agents within a society and, in turn, underscores the need for a comprehensive, yet flexible, development policy framework.

Economic hard times can have impacts on all spheres of global and regional activity. During hard times, individuals, firms, economies and societies tend to search for a remedy through investment. One way to appreciate how crises affect societies is to understand that the recent crisis beginning in 2008 is not a genuinely new one, and to take into account recurring patterns such as the Kondratieff cycles. Against this backdrop, the special issue will explore how economic stress affects the long-term innovative capacity of societies and industries. Some societies and industries will enjoy increased funding, while in other cases investment would be curtailed. Yet, increased or decreased investment may lead to counter-intuitive developments.

Under these economic crises, countries and industries have shown similarities and differences in responses. This special issue will include papers addressing how government, industry, and society have reacted to the economic crises, with a focus on the long-term impact (on science, technology, and innovation) that their choices may bring on. To fulfill the research question, this special issue focuses on the following areas, which are not necessarily exhaustive.

- Macro data-based historical analysis of government or industry responses to crises, and their consequences.- A country- or industry-specific (or better, a comparative) case study of how actors responded to economic hard times, noting consequences and potential implications for other countries and industries.- Methodological research oriented toward detecting and discriminating the impacts of economic hard times and investment decisions on the future.A paper in any of the three tracks may draw on ideas from the other tracks, and in every case it would be desirable to describe why certain types of policy decisions were made.

SubmissionsTo be considered for publication in this Special Issue, manuscripts must be received by Oct 1, 2010. Please submit your paper via Elsevier's on-line submission system (see: http://www.ees.elsevier.com/tfs) and indicate in the letter that they are for this Special Issue. Please also refer to TFSC's "Guide for Authors" for the styling and formatting guidelines (see: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/505740/authorinstructions).

India is one of the fastest growing economies and the role and significance of India in the global economy is continuously increasing. India offers enormous opportunities to both individuals and organizations. At the same time with a complex diversity, huge population and not so good performance on many non-economic aspects as reflected in various reports; India also provides and faces numerous challenges. Globally, scholars agree to the increasing need and importance of innovations for bringing positive change to individuals, companies, societies and countries. The concern for innovations is gaining voice in industry, government, civil society and academia in India. Innovations and their strategic management need to be harnessed for bringing overall development and progress of the country. Contributions are invited on various aspects of innovations in Indian context.

A suggested list of topical areas: A list of suggested topics includes but is not limited to the following:

Monday, April 12, 2010

Call for research proposals on Local Governance and Social Inclusion for mid-career professionals

Swiss Agency for Development & Cooperation announces a Research grant for mid-career professionals in the field of Local Governance and Social Inclusion which LoGIn has launched for 2010-2011. The last date for applying is 30 April 2010.

The advertisement, background information and application form are available at http://www.sdcindia.in under the "Announcement" section.

Organized by: School of Economics and Management, Lund University, Sweden

Call for papers

Hosted by the School of Economics and Management, Lund University, the 9th studying leadership conference provides a forum for debate on current and future advances in leadership theory, development and practice. It is designed to bring together scholars, practitioners and developers interested in exploring leadership from a variety of theoretical, pedagogical and practical perspectives and experiences. The ambition of the conference is to stimulate sharing, debate and insight, to facilitate dialogue from different theoretical traditions and pedagogical practices, and to open up possibilities for further inquiries and developments.

The theme of the conference: 'Missions, myths and mysteries' aims to highlight current trends in leadership, recognizing the significance of empirically and critically examining compelling missions myths and mysteries inherent in the way leadership is conceptualized and practiced. Is leadership the obvious answer to all challenges or might it also be part of the puzzles that organizations face in contemporary society? The conference seeks to examine the what, who, why, how and when of

leadership.

The conference organizers invite papers and workshop themes on any area of leadership research, development and practice. While we encourage both traditional papers and workshop proposals from mainstream functionalist and interpretative approaches, we are also keen to encourage more critical approaches that challenge taken-for-granted assumptions and practices in leadership. We also encourage submissions from related disciplines such as organizational theory/studies/behaviour, management/business, occupational psychology, sociology, cultural studies, anthropology, education, political science, military studies, health and social welfare, history and philosophy, which can all explore and critically evaluate missions, myths and mysteries in current and future leadership research, development and practice.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

International Conference on Pharmaceuticals in Developing and Emerging Economies: Production, Innovation, and Access to Medicines in the Wake of TRIPS

17-19 September 2010

Venue: University of Hyderabad, India

Organized by University of Hyderabad, India and Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia

The conference will examine the state of drug production and innovation in the global South in the wake of the implementation of TRIPS-mandated intellectual property rights. The interface between industrial capabilities, and access to essential medicines, is a second major theme. The aim is to provide a landmark assessment of these critical areas in global health and development. This event provides a unique opportunity for researchers, policy makers, public health advocates, and industry representatives to deliberate on the economics and politics of the pharmaceutical industry and access to medicines, across the developing and emerging economies.

Background

The Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement imposes global minimum standards for intellectual property protection to be phased in across all members of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The stated purpose is to improve the conditions for innovation and technology transfer – for the benefit not only of incumbent industry leaders but also developing and emerging economies. It is not evident however that the overall gap in the global pharmaceutical industry between developed and developing countries has diminished. The global drug market and global health research remain dominated by North America, Europe and Japan. These regions account for around 75% of global sales and more than 90% of global health-related research. From this perspective, TRIPS would seem to impose a 'one size fits all' model on the developing countries, notwithstanding different health needs or stage of economic development. Yet firms and research organisations in some emerging economies have established a significant presence in global innovation and production networks. India is the outstanding case and countries such as China, Brazil, Cuba, Thailand and South Africa also have notable capabilities. But there is scarce systematic knowledge of the present state and future prospects of pharmaceutical production and innovation across the global South – a deficiency addressed by this conference. Among the papers presented will be detailed studies of the impact of TRIPS on the pharmaceutical industry and public health in particular countries in all major regions of the developing world.

Conference streams

1) The pharmaceutical industry in the global South: country studies

2) TRIPS and national flexibilities: cases and disputes

3) Access to appropriate and affordable medicines

4) Business strategies in the pharmaceutical industry: perspectives from the South

5) Pharmaceutical manufacturing in the South: political, economic, social and environmental dimensions

Call for Papers / Submission of abstracts

The organisers invite papers that relate to one or more of five conference streams.Priority will be given to papers that present research results, or that offer critical or reflective comment, rather than purely descriptive papers. The abstract title should be no longer than 12 words. The abstract should commence with title of the proposed paper and the name(s) and institutional affiliation(s) of the presenter and author(s). The abstract should be a maximum of 250 words in simple text paragraphs without tables or sub-headings. If there is more than one author, all correspondence will be sent to the person whose name and email address is identified in the abstract as presenter. Include with the abstract 50 words of biographical details of each author. Please send 250 word abstracts by 15 April 2010 by email to: Mrs Chippy Kurian Sunil [Email: chippy.sunil(at)deakin.edu.au]Acceptance of abstracts will be announced by 1 May 2010. Around 100 papers will be presented over the three days of the conference.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Organized by W3C India Office and Department of Information Technology, Govt. of India

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international Standards Body which develops Standards / Best Practices / recommendations to ensure seamless web access to all. The Vision of W3C is to achieve Web for Everyone and Web on Everything. W3C works in tandem with others standards making bodies such as UNICODE, IETF, ICANN and ISO at the international level. W3C has so far published about 95 standards for web technology and working in the future web standards. W3C India Office has been set-up at DIT under the aegis of Technology development for Indian languages (TDIL). The objective of w3C India office is to promote adoption of W3C recommendations among developers, application builders, and standards setters, and to encourage inclusion of stakeholder organizations in the creation of future web standards.

The Conference topics would be focusing in these major areas:1. W3C and Web Technologies2. Internationalization aspects in W3C3. Web Access through mobile and handheld devices4. CSS and Styling issues for Indian languages5. Web Architecture and Semantic web6. Human machine Interface for the web7. Web Content Accessibility in Indian Languages8. W3C and E-governance

Call for Papers

Technical Papers / Tutorials/ Presentations are invited for various Technology Track Sessions in the above mentioned areas. Please submit your abstracts in Standard IEEE 2 Column format by email to slata[at]mit.gov.in, schandra[at]mit.gov.in in .PDF and .DOC formats on or before 10th April 2010. All submissions must be in electronic form.

Conference Program Committee will review all submissions and select papers for oral presentation at various technical sessions.

Important Dates :1. Submission of Abstract: April 10, 20102. Submission of full papers: April 15, 20103. Deadline date for registration: April 20, 20104. Date of conference: May 6-7, 2010

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Between Mainstream and the Fringe: Environmental Activism in a Globalised World: International Conference

9-10 December 2010

Venue: Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi, IndiaOrganised by University of Heidelberg in collaboration with Centre for Culture,Media and Governance, JMI

Environmental activism entered the political domain in the 1980s. The demand for rights and justice pitched activists against their adversaries: the state, business corporations, corporate media and the judiciary. Over the next 20 years, however, these mainstream actors slowly colonised the environmental agenda. It is important therefore, to understand the effectivity and nature of mainstream concern around environment as well as the renegotiated charter for the fringe activists who have assumed a new dimension in a globalised world.The continuous push of globalisation brings with it other changes. Emerging transnational networks, the entry of Northeren NGOs into South and their collaborations with local partners and the corporatisation of the green agenda are changing the scope and nature of environmental politics. New financial arrangements are emerging with increased transnational funding giving rise to flows of ideas and knowledge that transcend national boundaries and change the relationship between both state and non-state actors. The contested terrains of control over natural resources are "glocally" renegotiated between various agents.It is to map the changes within the sphere of environmental activism and shifting transnational engagements that Heidelberg University's Cluster of Excellence 'Asia and Europe', is organising a two day conference in Delhi on Decemebr 9th and 10th, 2010 at the Jamia Millia Islamia University (JMI) in New Delhi. The conference is being held in collaboration with the Centre for Culture, Media and Governance, JMI.The conference lays a strong emphasis on practitioner experience and case studies and aims to facilitate a conversation between both activists and academics. (While the emphasis of the conference is on India and South Asian case studies, relevant papers from other parts of the world are welcome.) Keeping our broad concerns in mind, the conference invites papers around the following themes (but not restricted to):1) Media Discourse on the environment

Mainstream media narrative of environment and its politics. Communication strategy of the fringe in the mainstream media clutter.2) Transnational donors and environmental agendaGuiding principles for funding actions/research in the South and donor expectations.Compliance and subversion of donor agenda by Southern civil society.3) Business imperatives in new 'environment'Corporate sponsorship of green movement and its business benefits.Business leadership through financing clean technology.Public relations and the politics of reputational advantage.4) Warfare in hyper-realityDeterminants of successful activism in New Media/Social networking and politics of new technology5) Youth movements on environmentStaking claims for the future and relevance of 'immature politicians'

6) Political Parties, state and the superstructure of environmental administration

Appealing to the electorate with the green agenda.The bureaucratisation of people's movements.7) The grassroots in global networksRetaining local identity in global resistance movements.8) Judiciary, rights and wrongsCan judicial activism restore environmental justice or does it bypass the democratic process?

You will be notified by June 30th if your abstract is successful and you will have to submit a full paper (between 7,000 to 10,000 words) by October end for dissemination to other participants and paper discussants. Submission of a full paper is essential as a book is planned around the conference.

Discussants

For those who do not wish to present a paper but would like to lead the discussion of papers in their areas of interest, do let us know at the same email ids regarding your areas of work, publications, etc and we will notify you regarding submissions.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Organized byStrategic and Economic Capacity Building Programme,Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), New Delhi, India

This programme addresses the need for capacity‐building in the strategic and external policy community in S. Asia. In a complex, dynamic world, where economics, politics and military issues inter‐twine on an ever increasing scale, policy‐makers, media‐persons, and researchers have to deal with multi‐faceted issues and problems. Their task has become all the more challenging in the post cold war era, where set positions are being replaced by fluid coalition‐building and more nuanced approaches. External policy makers will increasingly be required to clearly prioritize their national interests in the global arena and take more informed decisions of cooperation and conflict going well beyond the South Asian region to Asian and global issues.

This workshop is a response to this capacity deficit in the strategic and external policy community in S. Asia. With internationally reputed faculty and experts, it aims at exposing South Asia's younger diplomats and opinion makers to front line international strategic thinking and analysis, in an innovative, interactive framework. There will be more than 20 sessions over a period of two weeks, on issues of the future organized within the following broad themes:

The Global Situation: Broad overview of developments in the global economy, the shifting balance of power, international trade and governance regimes, and scenarios for the future

The South Asian Context: The rise of Asia, prospects for regional cooperation in South Asia, scenarios for India's future

The Dynamics of Power & Security Challenges: Global and regional geopolitics and security issues

Invited by Strategic and Economic Capacity Building Programme (SECP), ICRIER

ICRIER invites applications for writing in-depth research papers on international strategic / economic issues of the future, under the Strategic & Economic Capacity-building Programme (SECP), sponsored by the Macarthur Foundation. The focus of the SECP project is on international issues of the future, especially in the Asian context, such as those relating to economic and strategic policies, global governance, and regional cooperation. South Asian academics, diplomats, media-persons and others having appropriate academic background and experience may apply at the earliest. Selected researchers will have six months to produce the paper under the guidance of internationally reputed mentors. The papers, on satisfactory completion, will be suitably disseminated through workshops / publications. The papers carry an honorarium of INR 1,00,000 (Indian Rupees one lakh only) plus possibility of a travel grant.

Please apply at the earliest to the Director, Strategic and Economic Capacity-building Programme (e-mail: skumar[at]icrier.res.in) along with CV(s) of researchers, and an outline of the research proposal, in the format given here.